Its that time of year again! Foals are now being born to mares saved from slaughter in the pound! As I see them take their first breaths, I am so emotional when I think how different it might have been for them. If it was not for IHRP they would never have taken a breath at all- they would have smothered in utero as their mothers died. But alive and kicking are these lucky ones! Colts for Arlene and Dorcas, and a filly for Dora. I,m still waiting on Dulciebella to foal, and hopefully that will be soon and they can all grow together!

Baby Daniela is a week old today so its time she had an album of her own! Our first baby born in IHRP this year makes her special- but what makes her very, very, special is the fact that she has been saved twice already so to speak! The first time was when we saved her mum from a bullet in the pound- Baby Dani, in utero, would have smothered over hours! That day gave her a chance at life! The second time she was saved was when she arrived into the world last Wednesday- Her young mother had no milk, so the emergency colostrum was pulled out of the freezer and our very good friends in Kildangan Stud gave us another bottle of the live saver! So now she is a bonny baby girl, 1 week old and bouncing around and full of fun!

And that my friends translates into "Welcome to Italy! We are very proud of you and hope you have a very happy Life!"IHRP Anita, Byrony and yesterday Bianca! All pictured in their new homes in Italy! Job well done!

Welcome to the world, IHRP Bonnie!!Mum, Bunty, was saved from slaughter in the pound with unborn Bonnie in utero!Bonnie would have suffocated over hours after her mother was shot! It doesn,t bear thinking about!This is why IHRP was set up- to save and protect! This little pair are ready for rehoming!

IHRP Briar Rose was due to be shot last Monday!She foaled with a beautiful filly foal on Wednesday! That little baby would have slowly suffocated inside her dead mother, 2 days before she was due to be born! This is not the fault of the pound- they have to do a job or we would be over run with neglected and abandoned horses, but something is seriously wrong with this country and its horse owners to even let this young mare get into this condition, be in foal, and be so uncompliant with the law that she was impounded!

IHRP Anita, a yearling cob filly, has been rehomed through the programme to Italy! Anita was one of 5 very young cob foals, dumped and left to die. As soon as they were picked up by the pound it was obvious they were not going to survive without special nursing care, so they came straight into us.Nearly a year later, the gorgeous blue eyed Anita was spotted on the website by Elisa in Italy, and offered a home! She travelled well and has totally adjusted to life in a new country! We wish IHRP Anita and her new owner, Elisa, the very best for the future!

I,m sure you are all wondering about her! She has been named IHRP Arial ( which actually means Gods Lion!)Ariel is doing well considering her awful start in life! She is only a year old, and was getting the mother of all beatings, late at night, on a main street in Kilkenny! She was being made to pull a sulky, but she was not strong enough! The fact that she had a full set of shoes on her baby feet meant she couldn,t even get a grip on the wet road, and was beaten all the more! But we are confident that the brute who nearly killed Arial will be brought to justice!Arial was then sent to the pound to face a certain death. IHRP had a plea for help from a member of the public and we secured the release of the filly after a few nail biting days! It is always at the discretion of the Local Authority if they will release for rehoming!Arial wasn,t strong enough to travel up the country to our centre after her ordeal, so she spent a few days locally with our dear friend who gave her loads of TLC! She arrived into the Irish Horse Rehoming Programme last week, and is holding her own! As you can see from the pics, she is rubbed sore across her front and back legs from the harness leg straps and she has a wound on her hind fetlock, where she clipped herself with the shoe trying to pull the sulky with a fairly big man on it!This little girl won,t be ready for rehoming for quite a while, so if you you would like to contribute towards her care and support our work here in IHRP, please click on the link below which will bring you to our paypalhttps://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=C4YQ82V4KUJYE

"Harrowing video footage of a horse being relentlessly beaten and flogged by the intoxicated driver of a sulky on a city street has been seen by the Kilkenny People.The innocent animal was brutally lashed and repeatedly hit with a stick, which was almost three metres in length. The horse spins around in circles in terror and fear as the driver continues to beat him indifferent to the pain he is causing."

The Irish Horse Rehoming Programme have secured the release of this filly from the Pound!! It was horrendous what she had to endure and she is only a baby!She has various cuts and bumps, and a full set of shoes on her tiny feet, but she is now getting the very best of care!She won,t be available for rehoming for a little while, but if anyone would like to donate to her rehabilitation, or contribute to the work we do, we have a new paypal DONATE button on our website!